Franz Schubert: His Life and Music

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Dates and Major Milestones

1797: Franz was born in Vienna.
1808: Franz became a student at the Imperial Seminary.
1809-1812: He composed several piano pieces and songs for his mother’s death and father’s birthday.
1813: Taught at the “Normalhauptschule School”.
1814: Schubert met Therese Grob. The two did not get married.
1815: Schubert composed more than 20,000 songs and compositions.
1819-1820: Franz’s compositions and styles matured.
1826: His health deteriorated because of typhoid fever.

Birthplace and Major Locations

1797: He was born in “Himmelpfortgrund” (Modern-day Vienna, Austria).
1826-28: Franz resided in Vienna.
1827: He visited Graz briefly.
1828, November 19: Franz died.

Musical Training

Schubert was Franz Theodor’s son. Theodor was a violinist, and so he taught and gave him the basic instruction to music at the age of six. He joined the Imperial Seminary in 1808. He visited different operas thus forming the foundation of his career. He received private training from Salieri in “music composition and theory” (Black 17).

Performance Instruments

Schubert was a violinist, guitarist, and vocalist. This explains how he trained on various instruments such as guitars, flutes, pianos, and keyboards.

Historical Importance

Just like the other composers of the Romantic era, Schubert “promoted” the existing symphonies. He also composed new church liturgies, operas, and symphonies. This transformed the quality and taste of his compositions. He also gave birth to a new form of “solo piano” and “chamber” music (Kramer 17).

Style

Most of the composer’s works were a continuation of the traditional Viennese compositions. He “expanded” his composition to a Romantic style. He displayed his ingenuity by completing much liturgical music, operas, and symphonies. This promoted the nature and taste of the Romantic era.

Method of Composing

Many people consider the artist’s compositions as a sign of “pure genius”. Throughout his career, Schubert wrote at the piano. Towards the end of his life, Franz Schubert used various materials such as notebooks to write down his thoughts and ideas (McKay 47).

Musical Innovations and Inventions

Just like most of his predecessors, Franz Schubert advanced the traditions used for Classical Viennese compositions. However, he managed to present a new idea and pioneered a new style of music composition. He came up with numerous “solo piano” compositions. He also invented “pleasing tunes” without “dramatic power”. He introduced new genres and forms such as chamber music, liturgical compositions, and opera. He also composed a new genre known as the “Lieder” (Kramer 37).

Interesting Facts

In only one year (1815), Franz Schubert wrote over 20,000 bars of music. Most of these compositions included 9 liturgical works, a complete symphony, and over 150 compositions.
Schubert had started a law degree in Vienna. At the same time, he composed his Symphony No. 5. He decided to quit school after completing this symphony. This explains why his music was always fresh, youthful, and light.
Schubert used to have “famous” musical celebrations and parties known as “Schubertiads”. He would gather his fans and friends to display most of his best compositions and songs (McKay 78).

Interactions with Other Composers

Schubert had many fans and friends. He made acquaintances with Beethoven and Mozart. Schubert earned the respect and trust of Antonio Salieri at a tender age. He also met Joseph Spaun and the two started to “modernize” music. He also met Therese Grob who was a “soprano”.

Major Types of Compositions

The composer was able to write in most of the common styles. Some of these Viennese Classical styles included “symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas, and chamber music” (Brown 15). This explains why he came up with styles such as “chamber music” and “solo piano”.

Occupation

The composer relied on his income as a music composer. His popularity and “greatness” of his composition made him famous and admirable in Vienna. He had some other official duties as a teacher in different music schools (Brown 4). He also received numerous support and financial assistance from his relatives and friends.

Family Life

Franz Schubert never married. However, he met Therese Grob in 1814 and later wanted her to be his wife. This did not come true because of the Marriage-Consent Law passed in 1815. The law required him to show he had the financial strength to support his new family.

Major Works

Schubert completed his Mass in A flat in 1822. This is one of the masterpieces because it showed his mastery and ingenuity. The composition also showed he had matured as an artist.
The second major work is Trockne Blumen. In this composition, the artist used different variations for piano and flute. The composition had several quartets.
Schubert’s Fierrabras was a major composition. The song cycle would become one of the leading pinnacles of his Lieder.

Works Cited

Black, Leo. Franz Schubert: Music and Belief. Oxford: Oxford Press, 2005. Print.

Brown, Maurice. “Franz Schubert”. Encyclopedia Britannica. 1.1 (2013): 1-16. Web.

Kramer, Lawrence. Franz Schubert: Sexuality, Subjectivity, Song. New York: Wiley, 2003. Print.

McKay, Norman. Franz Schubert: A Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

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